Are you sick?

"You look like you're about to rob someone." Xiao remarked as he and Oz made their way to the academy.

Oz had tried to cover his new appearance as much as possible by wearing his brothers sports cap and a black face mask he dug out from under the bed.

"You told me to cover my face as much as possible." Oz's voice was muffled by the mask and Xiao had to suppress a chuckle.

"Well, I don't know about not drawing attention to yourself, but it should work." Xiao said. As they neared the academy gates, it seemed like Xiao was right. All the students gave Oz weird stares as he made his way to the first years training field and he wondered if he should just go and cultivate at home instead.

"I'll wait for you at the gate after class is over." Xiao called out over his shoulder as he made his way to where Class A was training.

"Good morning students!" Elder Jasmine called out cheerily as all of Class E began to filter into their smallish training field. "I hope you all had a good night cultivating!"

"Yes, Elder." The students answered together and she turned and headed towards the class building.

"Before you all continue to cultivate, I want to talk to you about something. Come and take a seat." She began to usher all the students in and a silvery head caught Oz's attention.

"It's me, Oz." Oz said as he gently placed her arm in his. "I'll lead you to a chair, it's a little crowded."

"Thank you, Oz." Seraphin smiled softly as she relaxed into his arm. He found an empty bench and helped her sit down before sitting next to her.

"He's wearing a face mask." A student whispered from behind them. "Is he sick?"

"Let's sit somewhere else." Another student said and Oz sighed.

"Settle down, settle down!" Elder Jasmine called out and the room soon fell silent. She smoothed her curly brown hair back and cleared her throat. "This morning, all academy elders were advised to tell their students that the secluded cultivation caves outside the Northern City will soon be open."

Excited chatter broke out through the crowd and even Oz felt his heart beat faster at the news.

"Alright, alright! I know you're all excited but let me finish first!" She called out and eventually the chatter quietened again. "To celebrate the opening, there will be a contest being held with the winners gaining a free 1 month secluded cultivating admission.

The contest will be held at the end of next month so please report to me if you want to be entered! Only one student from each class will be allowed to compete!"

With the end of her speech, everyone exited to the training field and began excitedly talking about the seclusion caves and contest.

"Are you going to enter the contest?" Seraphin asked Oz as he lead her to the spot they cultivated at yesterday. The sun shone brightly and Oz began to sweat under the face mask and hat.

"Of course," Oz answered unhesitatingly. "Are you?"

"I don't think so," Seraphin shook her head. "I don't particularly like contests, but I'll come and cheer you on."

"Hah," Oz smiled at the girl. "I'll have to beat everyone else in our class first to even be qualified to enter the contest."

"Something tells me you'll do just fine." Seraphin said quietly, her mouth curving as if she was enjoying a hidden secret.

They sat down onto the dry earth and he felt Seraphin heavy gaze on him as if she was looking into his soul.

"Something is different about you." Seraphin noted and Oz's eyes widened slightly before he brushed it off, pretending to be unfazed.

"How so?" He queried.

"You seem… cleaner." She chuckled and then reached up and ran her fingers a few inches above Oz's arm through the air. "Your aura is almost shining today. I'm guessing you reached the first stage of body excretion."

"What…" Oz stared at the girl with a bewildered expression. "I guess it's no use to keep things from you."

"Well it's not surprising anyhow." Seraphin shrugged and Oz raised his eyebrows. Quinn and Xiao had acted that him accelerating to the first stage of body tempering was something unheard of. And now, Seraphin was brushing it off as if she had just discovered todays lunch menu.

"Not surprising?" He queried.

"Well, you're practicing the demonic breathing technique, right? It's only natural that things will be faster for you." Seraphin cocked her head at him with an expression that read, 'Are you stupid?'

"How do you know so much about the demonic techniques?" Oz asked and Seraphin let out a sigh.

"I told you my family had held some demonic techniques," she explained. "I also knew someone who was a demonic practitioner, he also excelled in his body tempering."

Oz wanted to ask more about the person, but when he saw the sad look on her face, he decided to drop it.

"Hey! It's Oz, right?" A male voice sounded from behind them and Oz turned to see a group of guys heading towards them.

"Yes?" Oz replied, slightly confused as to why they were coming over.

"What's with the getup? You sick or something?" The guy asked. Oz assessed him and realised that he was one of the students with the highest strength score, just narrowly missing out on the D class.

"Ah, just a little cold." Oz said, waving off his worry. "How can I help you?"

"My names Lian." Lian offered a friendly smile before continuing. "We're just going around to ask for everyone's support for the up coming contest for the seclusion caves."

"Our support?" Oz asked, his tone dropping as he now felt as if something was off with this Lian guy.

"Well, it would give the E Class a great amount of recognition and opportunities if one of their students won the contest." Lian explained simply, the fake smile still plastered on his face. "So we are asking for your cooperation in the form of donating your next months Ki Pill to me."

Oz couldn't believe the nerve of these people.

"And what if I don't want to?" Oz asked.

"Do you not know who he is?!" One of the guys behind Lian said angrily and took a few steps forward behind Lian stopped him.

"I'm afraid that I'm really going to have to urge you to reconsider if that's the case." Lian said, his smile turning stiff.

"That included you too." The other guy behind Lian said and gestured towards Seraphin. "What does a blind girl even need a pure Ki Pill for?" The two henchmen laughed and Oz clenched his fists, about to stand up and argue.

"Oh, whatever will I do?" Seraphin faked being sad as she placed two hands to her face dramatically. "I've already promised to support Oz for the upcoming contest. I'm sorry."

They all fell silent at her words, even Oz was dumbstruck at what she had just declared.

"He doesn't even have any spirit roots!" Lian said angrily, his friendly act was finally dropped. "He's useless as a cultivator! Don't waste opportunities for others and waste their futures just because you have some silly dream."

Oz hands trembled because they were clenched so much. How he wished he could punch this guys stupid face.

"Oh, I think you made him angry." One of the henchmen said. "I wonder if his punch would even land?"

"Why don't we find out?" Oz said in a low tone and met eyes with Lian. Lian's eyes seemed to widen a fraction for a moment before a vein bulged in his forehead.

"Do it then and we will-" Lian was cut off by a familiar voice.

"Hey! Do you think you have time to chat over there? Get to cultivating!" Elder Jasmines voice rang out over the training field and Oz and Lian continued to glare at each other before Lian spat near Oz's foot.

"Let's go," Lian muttered and then glanced one last time between Oz and Seraphin. "Watch yourselves."

"Asshole." Seraphin grunted as they watched the group disappear into the crowded training field.

"It was almost a matter of time before the bullies began to reveal themselves. It's the same wether it be in high school or the academy." Oz sighed, trying to suppress the dark memories from his past. He was hopeful that he wouldn't have to deal with these kinds of people once he was in the academy because he would be too strong to be picked on.

Instead, he had no spirit roots and was in the lowest class.

Not exactly the future he had in mind.

"I wasn't joking before by the way," she said softly and when Oz looked at her with a confused expression, she continued, "I really will support you for the contest. You want to participate, right?"

"Oh, yeah." Oz answered. He would love to be able to enter the seclusion caves. Just thinking about how many levels he could surpass in those caves made his heart beat faster with excitement.

"Then I will give you my next Ki Pill to help." Seraphin said and then quickly got into the lotus position when she saw Oz about to decline it. "Don't argue with me about it and start cultivating. You'll need to reach level 5 so you can learn some fighting techniques otherwise you will be like a sitting duck during a duel."

"You're right," Oz nodded and then smiled at the girl. "I'll pay you back for the pill by the way."

"Don't bother, just win against that prick." Seraphin muttered and Oz chuckled.

As he began using the Demonic breathing technique and the familiar pain began to sear through his body, he couldn't help but smile. With a new goal of winning the contest, Oz felt a surge of motivation coarse through him.

He was going to win, no matter what.